We’ve entered a new frontier, so desperate for preexisting properties on which to base films that any semblance of an actual narrative has become strictly optional. The latest up-and-coming trend: self-help books. After the box office success of He’s Just Not That Into You, studios have been actively scrounging up other self-improvement books to make into movies, one of the more recent examples beingHow to Talk to Girls (which Date Night director Shawn Levy is in the process of developing).

Now there’s Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, based on the enormously relationship book by John Gray that, since its release in 1992, has sold over 50 million books and even spawned a board game and a short-lived talk show. Summit Entertainment has hired Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan, the writing-directing team behind Can’t Hardly Wait and Josie and the Pussycats, to adapt and direct. Learn more after the break. Read More »

Universal Pictures has released the first movie trailer for Leap Year, which is a romantic comedy about a woman who has an elaborate scheme to propose to her boyfriend on Leap Day.

Amy Adams and Matthew Goode star in Leap Year, a romantic comedy that follows one woman’s determined quest to get married to the perfect guy…despite what fate has in store for her. When their four-year anniversary passes without a marriage proposal, Anna (Amy Adams) decides to take matters into her own hands. Investing in an Irish tradition that allows women to propose to men on February 29th, Anna decides to follow her boyfriend Jeremy (Adam Scott) to Dublin and get down on one knee herself. But airplanes, weather and fate leave Anna stranded on the other side of Ireland, and she must enlist the help of handsome and surly Declan (Matthew Goode) to get her across the country. As Anna and Declan bicker across the Emerald Isle, they discover that the road to love can take you to very unexpected places.

From Anand Tucker, the director of Shopgirl and Hilary and Jackie, and based on a screenplay by Slumdog Millionaire writer Simon Beaufoy and Can’t Hardly Wait scribes Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan, comes another middle of the road romantic comedy where the female character appears to be reduced to a marriage obsessed spaz. I’d love to say that I’ll never see this film, but sadly, I’ll watch almost any movie that Amy Adams is involved in. Watch the trailer after the jump, and leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Patrick Dempsey will star in the romantic comedy Made of Honor, for the British director behind Mr. Bean and City Slickers II, Paul Weiland. Written by Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont (Can’t Hardy Wait, A Very Brady Sequel) the story follows Tom Bailey (Dempsey), who is in love with his best friend Claire, but is unwilling to admit it. When a rich Scotsman sweeps Claire off her feet and proposes, he’s chosen to be her Maid Of Honor. Sounds like it might be funny. Dempsey started his career by looking pretty,

Floor and desk advertisements for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows have started to appear in bookstores.

IGN has a look at The Hoax Movie Poster. Blah!

Steven Spielberg’s filmmaking reality television show On The Lot will premiere May 16th 2007 on Fox.

Looks like someone forgot to re-register DonnieDarko.com. That sucks. But most of that material fell into the sucky directors cut, so maybe they felt the online experience was no longer needed?

If you’re in San Francisco on Sunday, why not crash an Oscar Party?The Hollywood Reporter: “The high risk of a “real or de facto” strike by Hollywood unions means film industry employment could drop substantially in 2008, according to a new forecast by a regional economic group.” No duh. That’s like saying ‘If the Police cracked down on the hotels in California for hiring mexican workers, the hotel industry would lose a lot of workers.’